Friday, August 12, 2016

Now That Everybody Loves Comic Book Movies, Let’s Watch Aeon Flux Again

Aeon Flux (2005), or Æon Flux, the
movie based on the stylish 1990’s MTV animated series by Peter Chung, features
Charlize Theron, a full 10 years before she becomes Imperator Furiosa, as the titular deadly and graceful Monican agent. Imagine if Cirque
du Soleil had a school for assassins.She catches a fly in her eyelashes in her first scene, a direct
reference to the cartoon, but her original strappy g-string outfit, really no more
revealing than Leeloo’s thermal bandage dress (1997) has been replaced by a more
conventional catsuit.

Visually stylish and with excellent
production design, Aeon Flux presents a fully realized world of deadly gardens
with plant based security systems needle grass and dart-fruits.Nanotechnology, biometric implants and
pollen spores that carry telepathic messages pose intriguing questions in a movie that
seems in places to be a screen accurate, live-action version of the
cartoon.There’s plenty of
Matrix-y fight scenes, cool gadgets, and a convoluted plot involving revolution and clones, but that doesn’t merit the thrashing the movie received critically
and at the box office.

Look out for Sithandra, Aeon’s assassin
bestie with her hand/feet, as portrayed by Sophie Okenado, along with Jonny LeeMiller as Oren Goodchild, and Pete Postlethwaite, Mr. Kobiyashi from The Usual
Suspects (1995), as Keeper.Also
watch out for British actor Patterson Joseph as Giroux, who you know as Johnson
from Peep Show as Giroux and Berlin actor Nikolai Kinski (yes, that Kinski,
Klaus’s son and Nastassja’s half brother), as Claudius.

Not Marvel or DC, but something else,
something original, and also something confusing for non-fans of the cartoon,
Aeon Flux currently holds a 10% on Rotten Tomatoes.Creator Peter Chung was disappointed in the result, but a
decade later the movie seems very accurate in respect to the source, with perfectly executed CGI and
green screens that hold up over time simply because the vision was so creative and
unique.

I’m certain this movie was released ten years too
soon, and was lost in the CGI forest of 2005 that included Peter Jackson’s King
Kong, Batman Begins, Sin City, Star Wars Episode III, Serenity, Constantine, and
Corpse Bride. Incidentally, 2005 also saw the release of arguably Val Kilmer’s last great
movie, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

my first novel? thanks
for asking:) it’s a the first book
in a 4-volume supernatural martial arts series chock full of killer kung-fu
witches, haunted carnivals, punk rock assassins, and a 24-hr diner with the
best pie in town…

read for free on kindle unlimited or buy the paperback from these
fine (amazon) bookstores.